Subject to Change
by perfectpro
Summary: Shane Gray had the best friend in the world, a miss Sonny Munroe. That is, until he messed it all up.


Shane Gray is six when he first meets Sonny Munroe.

He thinks that she's cool because she isn't as prissy and girly as that Tess Tyler girl who lived down the street from them at their old house and always wanted to play house with him was.

He is the whiny six year old from across the street, and Sonny thinks he's a spoiled brat.

When she meets Shane's stepmother, she realizes this isn't so. Mrs. Gray doesn't do bribery with anyone, especially not her middle stepchild who whines and complains with every move he makes. In fact, she often tells him that Nate, his younger brother, whines less than he does. When Shane hears this, he screams. Usually, no one stops him. When Sonny hears him scream, she kicks him in the shin and tells him to shut up. Everyone else laughs, but Shane shuts up like Sonny told him to (though he's not listening to her at all) and threatens to cry. Sonny pulls his hair and he does.

He is confused when everyone laughs quietly, including Nate, his one younger brother who he though looked up to him. Shane tries to get everyone to feel sorry for him, but Sonny starts crying with those little-girl crocodile tears that Jason told him are infested with cooties and he'll _die_ if he gets the cootie disease. He believes Jason more than anyone else in the world because it's illegal for big brothers to lie to their little brothers, isn't it? Shane certainly thinks so. He would lie to Nate, sure, but Nate has Jason to look up to too. It's not like Shane is Nate's only big brother, really.

His stepmother (who he prefers to think of as a mother because try hard though he might, he can never remember his mother and that's absolutely pathetic for a boy not to remember their own mother as Jason is always telling him) comforts Sonny but _she's the one who pulled his hair_ in the first place. Even at six years old, Shane knows that pulling someone's hair is practically an unforgivable sin. Sure, they may not discuss it in church, but Shane likes to think of it as the unseen unforgivable sin. He wants to scream and cry and rub Sonny's face in mud and he's never hated someone _this much_ since his dad made him cut his hair. His mom says it's wrong to hate but this . . . this little girl, who he has known for all of five minutes, has pulled his hair and kicked him in the shin and cried into his mother's arms. Surely they have a place for people like that. They can talk about it at church, but his mom says that it's a bad word to use outside of church. He believes his mom, because it's illegal for mothers to lie to their children. Jason told him that too. Shane doesn't know why he trusts Jason so much when his dad is always saying that Jason tells lies too, just like every other person in the world (but that's a lie because Jason has never ever lied to him before, as Shane so strongly believes).

It's the first time that Shane has ever felt this strong of an emotion and some people try to tell him that he's being foolish because you can't feel that strongly about someone of whom you've just met but Shane does. He does feel that strongly about Sonny and it's the first time he ever really thinks of whenever someone says the word 'feeling' to him because in his mind, that is his first real feeling.

Shane Gray is nine when he becomes Sonny Munroe's best friend.

She came home from first grade sniffling because, as she told him, this mean boy stole her cookie at snack time and she had to hit him to get it back and he knows that she doesn't like violence (which is clearly a lie, because Shane knows that Sonny doesn't mind violence whenever she pinches his elbow or steps on his foot to get his attention) but she was hungry and she just wanted to eat her cookie and that mean, awful boy stole it from her and oh, does he think she'll go to Hell for stealing her cookie (even though it was hers in the first place)? She says the last part in a whisper because she hasn't yet learned that it's okay to say things that moms don't approve of when moms aren't around to hear them.

He tells her, no, he doesn't think she'll go to Hell because she is the most honest person he knows and she should be honored because Shane knows his entire third grade class after all and he thinks that all of them are terrible liars because they can't even say that they didn't steal a cookie without blinking quickly or squinting into a light (and some of them even start to stutter whenever they start to lie (about even all of the little things) – that's the worst of them all). (In case you didn't know, Shane is a professional liar after all, since he tells his dad that he actually doesn't mind being dragged along to a press conference when there's a basketball game going on outside or something else.)

Sonny laughs and tells him that he's the best liar that she's ever met. So he tells her that they need to stick together because what would life be without lying to some people and telling the truth to others? She doesn't know and they sit outside and talk. They talk about sports because she plays softball and wants to win the World Series and he plays soccer but knows he isn't any good. They talk about school because she apparently does well in it (his mom won't shut up about how his grades are awful compared to Sonny's) and his teachers tell him that he crams too much information into one sentence.

When it's time for her to go, she shyly hugs him and then sprints across the street, waving to her new best friend (who she doesn't know, really, but wants to).

Shane Gray is ten when he learns that he should always expect the unexpected from Sonny Munroe.

It's his birthday and Sonny doesn't even begin to acknowledge this fact (how rude – his mother tells him it's always polite to wish someone a happy birthday whenever it's their birthday (as his so obviously is) even if you don't particularly like them). She does seem to care that he, the great _Shane Gray_, has reached double digits (it's his first time being a double digit person) and he wants her to congratulate him or tell him "happy birthday" or something along those lines. She doesn't come over to his house the entire day and he decides that he is to high and mighty now to associate with the single digits (besides his little brother Nate, who needs Shane to make sure that he doesn't turn out obsessed with bird houses like his older brother Jason is).

When she does come over, she shyly asks his mother is Nate can come over to her house. (Nate? Why Nate? He, Shane, is so obviously the one turning double digits here.) Shane figures that Sonny is intimidated by his awesome powers of double-digit-ness and decides to go over to her house and tell her that he is still Shane, still her friend (even if she is a lowly single digit), and still willing to associate himself with her. He goes over to her house and tells her this.

"Why would I be intimidated by you? I'm the one who pinned you to the ground yesterday, Shay," she tells him (it's true, even though he'll lie about it to anyone listens) and goes to the door when he realizes that he desperately wants her to wish him a happy birthday, even if he has to force it out of her (which looks like the case so far). He shoves his hands to the doorframe, prevents himself from screaming as the door tries to slam closed on them, and waltzes right into the house, Sonny scowling behind him.

Suddenly, people jump up and scream, "Happy late birthday, Nate!" to him. He shakes his head, trying to tell himself that they called his name because _he's_ the one turning double digits here, and not Nate. But they said Nate's name and Sonny waves them back down into their hiding places. Shane turns to Sonny, absolutely shocked by anything he's ever felt before.

"You threw a surprise party for Nate, Alice?" he asks, trying not to let the hurt escape his voice. Sonny smiles (in spite of his usage of that awful nickname he's bestowed on her) and throws her arms around him. She shakes her head into his chest and he thinks about what the people said when they jumped up at him. "Oh. You threw Nate a late birthday party so I'd be upset and think that you forgot about me, didn't you, Alice?" It's only when she nods does Shane realize that he'll never truly understand the way that Sonny's mind works. He can only stand beside her in awe at it all. It's ingenious, he'll give it that. His now double digited mind can barely wrap itself around it. But he knows that she made this birthday a very memorable one for him, and he values that a lot (values was a word on his spelling list and he likes the way it sounds, but he isn't quite sure of what it means).

As the year goes on in the Gray and Munroe households, Sonny celebrates Shane's birthday on Jason's, celebrates Jason's birthday on Nate's, and she celebrates Nate's birthday on Shane's. They aren't quite sure what to make of it, but they all know that Sonny Munroe isn't quite like anyone else (and Shane plans to keep an eye on her – he once heard his father say that some people are destined for greatness and Shane knows that Sonny was always meant to be great). By celebrating their birthday on a day that it meant for someone else, she is giving them a chance to be someone else.

(In later years, Shane would recall that Sonny, the Sonny who always did the strangest things (like add sugar to her soda, write backwards on mirrors, dance outside during thunderstorms, and hug random people in the super-market) made his birthdays the most memorable. He knows he won't ever forget opening all of his presents on some of Jason's birthdays.)

Shane Gray is twelve when he wants to learn how to play guitar.

He wanders into the Munroe's to see Sonny in front of the computer, watching a music video and surfing the internet. She doesn't say anything when he enters because the computer is at the other end of the house from the kitchen and Shane is pouring himself some lemonade. Besides, he comes over all of the time now. He, Jason, and Nate all know where the spare is. He wanders back to where she is staring at the computer screen to find her memorized by the person in the YouTube clip playing guitar to a song that he (even though he won't admit it) has on his iPod.

"Why are you staring at a computer screen with _that guy's_ face on it, Alice? What a waste. I look much better than him if you ask me," he brags. Sonny turns away from the monitor and raises an eyebrow (a trick that he will never admit that he is jealous that he cannot perform and yet she can).

"I didn't ask you, though, Shay. Besides, he's hot. The fact that he plays guitar only make him hotter," she notes, book marking the page and exiting out of the browser. Shane shakes his head at the infernal nickname she continues to call him (even though he calls her Alice, which is four times as bad as 'Shay' is in her opinion) even after his desperate attempts to get her to stop. Shane wrinkles his nose because in his opinion, Sonny is ten years old and is much too young to even be contemplating thinking about how hot a guy looks while he's on stage, playing a guitar (though that is where her mind clearly is).

"Whatever. Playing guitar doesn't look that hard. I could learn if I felt like it. In fact, I do feel like it. I'll take guitar lessons. I'll be better than that guy ever could be after my very first lesson. Then you'll be telling me how hot _I_ am, Alice. You won't have to think about what's-his-face any longer, don't fear," he cries dramatically and faints backwards, forgetting that the Munroe's moved their furniture last week and the couch he is so used to falling onto isn't there anymore (it's in the study, beside all of Sonny's dad's piles of books that he keeps in there) so he falls onto the hard ground. Sonny doesn't say anything, just gets the ice pack from the Munroe's fridge (it's kept there because that have long since discovered Shane's accident proneness that always appears during his stays inside their house).

"You might want to work on your landing there, Shay." There she goes again with his nickname. He really, really hates that nickname. Jason gets 'Jase' and Nate gets 'Natie' but Shane gets stuck with 'Shay'. He really, really hates that nickname, even though he likes the person it's coming from. "You go and call up that guitar teacher. If you want me bowing at your feet, you'll need all of the lessons you can get," she tells him, checking his head to make sure that there isn't any more damage done to his head after the fall then before (because there was quite a lot before the fall too, you know). There isn't, and she goes back to her YouTube video of watching the guy with the guitar go into solo.

Shane doesn't know why, but he goes home and calls his cool uncle who owns a music camp, the first person he can think of who plays guitar and might be willing to teach him how to play it.

Shane Gray is thirteen when he wants to become a rock star.

Sonny has become obsessed with music videos (the ones that have really long guitar solos) and she keeps gushing over how _cute_ the guitar players are. Shane doesn't believe that playing guitar makes you hotter, but comes to the conclusion that being a _musician_ in general makes you hotter. He uses this for his science fair project and at the end of it, he is sure that playing guitar makes you mildly hotter, but being a male singer puts your hotness through the roof. Sonny has confirmed his research by buying all of the CDs of the band that has minimal guitar players, but does have a male singer who, in Sonny's terms, is "hotter than any guitar player _ever_." Shane isn't thrilled by her description, but he starts to sing in the shower (when no one else is home because he doesn't want anyone laughing at him) and soon Sonny is trying to teach him to harmonize with her on her piano that she got for her eleventh birthday last week. He can't get the higher notes on the scale, but Sonny says that's okay because guys aren't supposed to be able to hit the high notes anyways (besides Michael Jackson, that is). He believes her because this is _Sonny_ and she probably hasn't even learned how to lie without blinking too much yet. Besides, she's still the most honest person she knows and as he always tells her, she should be honored because he knows a lot of people. What he doesn't tell her is that all of them are liars, even his own big brother who he idolized when he was younger. (He doesn't think his mother is a liar, because he still believes that it's a sin for mothers to lie to their children.)

Next time when he sees Sonny to sing along with her piano and occasionally her own voice, he doesn't know it, but she has a video camera hooked up to record their lesson. He leaves without knowing. Next time he goes on YouTube it's on the list of most watched videos for that week. He screams at Sonny but she laughs and gives him a print out list of all of the comments. They all love it. Next week, Sonny drags him to a bus station and they ride to California when she tells her mom that she's sleeping over Lucy's (she didn't even blink, he notes and realizes that she's more devious than she lets on) and Shane tells his mom that he's staying over Scott's to help for a school project they teamed together on (lie: Shane paid Scott to do the entire thing). In California, Sonny doesn't miss a beat and drags him to a recording company. Shane is still in shock from crossing several state lines, but Sonny is down to business.

He sings for the recording company and they like it, but it doesn't have a 'wow' factor. Sonny quickly tells them that Shane can play guitar (which is a total lie; Shane decided that he really didn't feel like using the effort and time to learn to play) and they tell him that as soon as he turns fifteen, he can sign something with them. He agrees and he and Sonny hop on another bus and return home with their mothers none the wiser.

Sonny tells him that if he sings and plays guitar, he'll be a pop star. Shocked, he tells her that he will _never_ be a pop star, and will instead option to become a great rock star that people always think of. She scoffs then, but she doesn't know that Shane is as close to the truth as he is about to get. "Oh well, rock stars are hot too I guess, Shay," she says (still calling him by that God awful nickname, but he still calls her Alice) and walks into her house, leaving him standing behind in amazement at her ability to drag him through the country without a single pause in the conversation but she leaves him speechless in his own front yard. He isn't sure that he likes the feeling, but he accepts it anyways. (He reads his dad's parenting books and though he'll never tell anyone, not even Sonny, they really do give good advice about not holding onto your feelings until you explode at someone you don't even know.)

He calls his uncle that runs the music camp and tells him that he wants to learn to play guitar again and he wants to come to the camp over the summer. (He doesn't tell him that he wants to be a rock star, because Shane never tells anyone besides Sonny, his one true confident, his dreams.)

Shane Gray is fourteen when he realizes that drama shows are stupid and drama stars are stupider.

All of the girls in his grade are going crazy because of some stupid show called _Mackenzie Falls_ just started up and the girl who he likes (as more than just a friend) is the most popular person in the eighth grade and therefore the one who is most in love with the show's star, Chad Dylan Cooper. Shane hates Chad Dylan Cooper with his entire three named, crush stealing, and apparently "hot-ness" as all of the girls keep on telling him, power from then on. He tells Sonny this and she laughs. She doesn't watch the show, because she only watches the network that _Mackenzie Falls_ comes on is because her favorite show, _So Random!_, comes on it too. (Shane doesn't mind _So Random!_ but it isn't his favorite.)

Sonny laughs at him when he tells her and laughs as she looks away. She may not watch the show, but she's seen the posters and is in a full census agreement with the rest of the sixth grade girls that Chad Dylan Cooper is hot (but she saw part of the movie he was in and she doesn't think his acting is too hot, to the disbelief of the rest of the female population of her class). "Shane, you just can't compete with Chad Dylan Cooper. I mean, he's just . . . It's so . . . He's _Chad Dylan Cooper_ for God's sake, Shay. I'm sorry, but unless you can somehow pop up with your own number one rated teen drama show and a bunch of pointless actors within the next two days so I can convince this girl that you're not a total loser compared with Chad Dylan Cooper, your hopes with her are as good as gone," she muses and goes back to watching a YouTube video. It's a different song, and he isn't quite sure if it's the same person from years past, but there's a guy playing the guitar and that in itself was enough to make Shane hate it.

"Come on, Alice. I bet I could come up with a number one rated teen drama _and_ a bunch of half-rate actors playing stupid roles to bask in my awesomeness within the next two days. Next step," he commands and Sonny pushes him out the front door, shaking her head at him with a smirk on her face.

"Bye, Shay. Hey, and even if you could come up with both of those things (which I hardly believe that you could), you'd still be no match for his hair. Sorry, Shay, but it's hot. Like his hair is just . . . hot. Really hot. But his eyes are confusing. One of them sparkles and the other just . . . doesn't. Now get out. And stop calling me Alice," she cries with a scowl and slams the door in his face.

Shane goes to his computer, watches an episode or two of _Mackenzie Falls_, decides that the three-named brat does _not_ (under any circumstances) have better hair then him, and decides to hate Chad Dylan Cooper for the rest of his life. (Later, he finds out, when he meets Chad Dylan Cooper that this promise he's made isn't as hard for him as it would be for others to do.)

Shane Gray is fifteen when he really does become a rock star.

After his birthday party (and Nate's late birthday party on his birthday), Sonny drags him into the hallway and gives him several pieces of paper. They're a recording contract. Suddenly, he remembers that the recording company said he could sign something with them once he turned fifteen. He's fifteen now and he signs his name on the dotted line as soon as Sonny hands him a pen. He has long since learned how to play the guitar and now he can play any song he feels like. Sonny hugs him as soon as they walk back into the party. "Congratulations, pop star," she whispers with a wink. He scowls.

"I told you, Alice. I'm going to be a _rock star_," he points out and she giggles into her hands, shaking her head quietly. "Rock star, Alice. I'll be the best. I'll be _better_ than the best," he says to her (though it's mostly to himself).

"You don't need to tell me, Shay. Just go out there into the land of rock stars, pop stars, actors and show business and show me how great you'll be," she says and walks out. Shane walks back into his room and pulls up a music video, any music video that has a guy playing the guitar and singing. He copies the moves of the guy on the monitor, but about half way through he realizes how dumb he looks. This will require concentration and the ability to look cool while doing this. Sonny is the only one he can really go to now. She laughs as he shows and her and makes him practice flipping his hair from the right to the left (and from the left to the right) for half an hour straight.

"I look stupid, Alice," he points out and she nods, looking deadly serious. "Wait a second . . . You knew I looked stupid and you still made me do it? What kind of a friend are you anyways?" he asks and she suddenly hugs him so that he answers his own question. She is his best friend (has been for some while now), and she is one of the very best kinds of best friends at that.

"Come on Shay. Live a little," she says and calls her mother to inform her that she is staying over Lucy's. Shane picks up on what she's doing and tells his mother that he needs to stay over at his friend Bruce's house (he doesn't even know a Bruce). They are riding to California without a single pause in the conversation and it's almost exactly like the time they did it two years ago. Except this time, if he thought Sonny was assertive before (which he did), then she's like a dictator of an autocratic government now. She has several documents lined up, negotiations to be drawn up, and salaries to be looked over. She just wants Shane to do well once he starts up in the music business, and Shane agrees with her for the most part (but it still doesn't change the fact that he's deathly afraid of coming between her and a bunch of publicity lawyers who want to argue over how much money he'll get).

The meeting with all of the big business people and their lawyers is over before Shane is even aware that it began, and suddenly he and Sonny are back on a train to home, leaving California behind. He feels like he can't wait to become a rock star, but he doesn't want to do it on his own. Later on during the ride, Sonny pulls up her laptop with the webcam and Nate and Jason tell him that they're in his band with him, so it'll be like an act of three brothers. They plan band names, but none sound quite right.

"Thanks, Alice," he says as he hugs her. Sonny smiles and hugs him back, and they are close to home. It suddenly dawns on him that he has just taken a road trip (he mentally remembers to cross this off of his list of things to do before he dies), and he can't even drive yet. He feels more accomplished than ever as he gets off of the bus and walks Sonny over to her house (after that, he turns around from there and walks into his doorway too).

He walks into his home signed with a record company with his two brothers. He has taken two road trips before he can even drive, and he feels absolutely great about everything right now. (But if he were to admit his true feelings, then he would feel slightly bitter that Sonny took charge of the entire recording process and didn't let him do much on his own. He doesn't know it right at that moment in time, but this animosity towards her is quite possibly the spark the ruined their best-friendship and the fact that he doesn't plan on voicing his opinions any time in the near coming future only adds to it.)

Shane Gray is sixteen when he meets Mitchie Torres (and becomes easily confused).

He's just gotten into a fight with Sonny (she thinks he's forgetting about her in his rise to fame, but really he has just thought of things that are more important (though how Shane thinks she got to that conclusion, he doesn't know) than she is to him) and his parting words to her before he left to go to Camp Rock were "I hate you." He's never regretted anything more in his life than this when he gets kicked out of his very own limo and is forced to eat food not specially prepared for his tastes by chefs from around the world (Sonny's right, of course; he has changed), not to mention sleep on a mattress where the pillows haven't been fluffed by the foreign maids he yells at in the fancy hotels that the band stays at.

He hates this camp that is his uncle's life (Shane is pretty sure that his uncle must have a pretty crappy life) and he just wants to leave and go back to the world that makes him special food, fluffs his pillows before he falls asleep, and does his very own hair for him with the nice, expensive products (some of which cost as much as an apartment lease for a year) that he loves oh so very much. But the camp doesn't seem that bad when he hears a voice (a voice he is sure belongs in Heaven) (a voice that he foolishly begins to think that it belongs to Sonny – which it of course does not) without a name. His goal is to find her voice and her name before he leaves the camp. He refuses to leave this camp until he finds her and her voice and tells her how beautiful she sounds when she sings. After the Final Jam, he has given up hope completely when she comes on stage and she sings. He knows her, the girl with the voice . That's Mitchie Torres, the girl he was sure sold him out for fame. But by the looks of her right then, she wouldn't betray him. She wouldn't betray anyone. She was so upset when he said all of those awful things to her because she _hadn't_ sold him out for fame. She hadn't gotten close to him just for the press stories and the photographs and the things that everyone he knows (except for Sonny, but he's determined to forget about her during his stay here) uses him for.

He doesn't even know that he's on stage, singing with her until the song is over and the crowd is going wild with applause for their impromptu duet with one another. Several people (almost the entire audience that was there to watch) come to them to comment on it, but each time they tell them, "Oh, it wasn't planned, believe us. It just sort of . . . happened when it did and we went with it."

Shane thinks that this is a good way to describe his relationship with Mitchie. It wasn't planned (he didn't come here looking for a girl), but it happened anyways (however, he can't help but think of Sonny whenever he stares into Mitchie's eyes) and they just went along for the ride.

It hits him suddenly when they are just hanging out one day about a week before camp ends. Mitchie is sitting across from him balancing her lyric book in her lap, and it just sort of hits him in the face and won't let go until he admits it. Mitchie is practically a dead-ringer for Sonny. Nate and Jason comment on it all of the time (well, whenever they come down for a visit, anyways). Mitchie has the same eyes, the same mouth, the same skin color, the same hair color and texture, the same body type, and even the same cheekbones of Sonny. It scares him, but he won't admit it because he likes Mitchie because she's Mitchie (and definitely not because she looks practically identical to his once-best friend who used to live in the house next to his), a bright and fun person amongst all of the formality of Hollywood (but that's what he liked about Sonny too, even though he won't say it out loud).

He leaves Camp Rock having a strong friendship with Mitchie (it never evolved into that perfect budding romance that they both thought it would sprout into), two brothers who support him through thick and thin, and without the friendship of the person he needs it most from (not that he realizes this anyway – he's much too caught up with reinventing himself for the press and paparazzi).

Shane Gray is nineteen when he patches things up with Sonny (and becomes suspicious about a three named jerk throb that doesn't seem to be so jerk-ish anymore).

He is walking down a red carpet at an awards show with Nate and Jason when he gets a call from Sonny. He hasn't talked to her since before Camp Rock and isn't exactly quite sure what he's going to say. As it turns out, that's fine because Sonny plans on doing all of the talking for a little while anyways. She rushes out the first part of conversation with fast-paced apologies, later on telling him how she's moved to Hollywood because she got a part on her favorite show, _So Random!_ He doesn't tell her that he knew her favorite show was _So Random!_ (because that's be admitting that he thought about her while they weren't talking to each other) and he doesn't tell her that he knew she was on the show (because that would be admitting that he watched her, just to make sure that she was still fine). She invites him to come down to the studio sometime next week.

He comes down on Monday, and the first thing she does when she sees him is give him a hug. (He wonders why he ever let himself tell her he hated her.) "I'm so sorry, Shane. I'm sorry I said you changed when you became a pop star and I'm sorry–" she starts off only to be cut off by him.

"No," he interrupts gently. He can see her eyes widen and cloud with a film of tears. She's about to tell him she's sorry that she even tried to apologize for inviting him here when it's so obvious that he just doesn't want to be here. He cuts off her apology before she even opens her mouth (he knows her just that well). "I'm Shane Gray. I'm a _rock star_, not a stupid pop star like Britney Spears. Get real here, Alice. I thought we had this conversation two years ago or so. Besides, I never should have said I hated you. I was out of place, and I'm sorry for it, Alice," he says and she breaks out into the widest grin that he thought was possible for her mouth to do without breaking.

"You called me Alice," she tells him simply and he nods (as he's wondering if she's gone deaf recently or not). "You called me Alice, Shay," she whispers to him (her grin only growing wider – therefore proving his previous theory wrong) and now he understands because it feels so great to be called by that absolutely detestable name that she named him fondly. "Want to meet the rest of the cast, Shay?" she asks him excitedly, grabbing his hand and pulling him down the hall. "They're great, they really are. All of them." A blond girl is walking towards them, holding a cup of frozen yogurt. "Tawni!" Sonny cries, waving to the blond girl who apparently is her friend. The girl drops the yogurt when she sees them.

"You're Shane Gray! You're _Shane Gray_ from Connect 3! Oh, God, you're Shane Gray!" she screams, running towards him and reaching to hug him, only to be disappointed by him quickly stepping behind Sonny. "Sonny, why is Shane Gray here and you didn't tell me? Why, Sonny? Why?!" Tawni cries, her arms coming towards Sonny as though to shake some sense into her. Sonny backs away, but not before pinning Tawni's arms to her sides (Shane is grateful; he thought Tawni there would ruin his hair).

"Tawni, I was coming to tell you. Shane just got here! So, Tawni, this is Shane. Shane, this is Tawni, one of my cast mates. Tawni, I've known Shane since I was four. We lived across the seat from each other," Sonny explains (and Shane thinks that her face is about to break from smiling so hard) quickly, pulling Tawni along with them. "Shane, you still have to meet Nico and Grady! We can't forget about Zora, either!" she cries and drags him into a room filled with plenty of objects with bright colors. There's someone sleeping on the couch, snoring slightly. Sonny stops once she's inside of the room and turns to Tawni, a peculiar expression on her face.

"Tawni, would you mind telling me why _he_ is sleeping on the couch?" Seeing Tawni's dazed expression from just seeing Shane Gray, Sonny decided to elaborate. "Tawni, why is Chad sleeping on our couch? He barely even comes over to the set, let along sleep on the couch. Honestly, why do I even bother to ask? Chad," Sonny says, getting down on her hands and knees and shaking the drama king awake.

Shane watches her do so and suddenly remembers when he was fourteen and she was the only girl who didn't like the show. He smiles, but then realizes that Sonny thought that Chad Dylan Cooper was hot all the same. He grinds his teeth in preparation, ready to tell Cooper that he, Shane Gray, met Sonny first and therefore, he, Shane Gray, has called dibs on her no matter how much Cooper wants her. It dawns on him that he is calling dibs on Sonny. He only calls dibs on girls he likes (and he is not (really, he's not) in love with his ex-neighbor ), but he supposes that it's fine since he's know Sonny since he was only six years old (Chad only met her barely three months ago so take that, Cooper!).

"Sonny? What? Why am I in Chuckle City?" the drama star demands, standing suddenly and almost knocking Sonny down. She stumbles a bit, but Chad reaches and catches her quickly, stopping her untimely fall to the ground. "Sorry about that, Sonny," he apologizes, sending both Shane's and Sonny's eyebrows up in shock. Chad Dylan Cooper _never_ apologizes. It's a well known fact to all of Hollywood.

"Chad, you were sleeping on the couch. Why were you over here in the first place? I mean, sure, you come over occasionally to say 'hi' to me, and us of course, and yeah, you came over here after the Kiss Cam incident but I don't even know why that was because you saying stuff in this really high pitched voice, and you came onto the set during the whole fan thing, which I am totally grateful to you for by the way, but I don't even know why and . . . You come over onto our set a lot, you know," Sonny points out. "You also come by to see me a lot, what with Tawni's date with Hayden when my phone fell down the garbage disposal and called you accidentally but you still . . . How do you know where I live, anyways?" she asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

Shane hasn't seen Chad Dylan Cooper for even three minutes, and already he wants to strangle him and hang him and murder him and bring him back to life only to murder him again. Chad must have noticed Shane's murderous expression, because he only barely manages to spit his next words out with a slight stutter injected into them. "That doesn't matter, Sonny. Are you Shane Gray? I'm — "

Shane cuts him off before he finishes. "Chad Dylan Cooper. I know. I'm Shane Gray. Alice, is the pretty boy bothering you? Or do you still think he's hot, like three years ago? Ow, that hurt! Stop hitting me, Alice! Stop it," he yells, pinning Sonny's arms to her sides as she stares at him with red cheeks and a tone of seven different shades of embarrassment in her chocolate eyes.

"Who's 'Alice'?" Chad interrupts, staring at Sonny, who blushes twelve or thirteen shades redder than Shane thought possible (strike two — he's been wrong twice today (and he doesn't want to be wrong again) much to his chagrin). "Seriously, who is she?" Shane takes a pause from looking into Sonny's embarrassed gaze to look over at Chad, who seems as confused as ever. Seriously, the boy can' be _that_ dumb. Upon Chad's expression never changing, Shane changes his statement. Apparently, the boy _can_ be that dumb. (But seriously, did he actually think her actual name was Sonny? Oh, that's rich.)

"No one! Shane has imaginary friends that he talks to and I guess he still hasn't given up on Alice! So she's absolutely no one that you know! Or I know! Nope, never heard of her. Who's Alice? See? I don't even know her!" Sonny rambles on quickly and Shane frowns. She only rambles like that when she's nervous. He can't name why (he obviously doesn't like Chad Dylan Cooper), but he doesn't really like the thought of Sonny being at any degree of nervousness around the stupid Hollywood actor slash pretty boy who calls himself Chad Dylan Cooper.

"Whatever, Sonny. Hey, I'll see you around, right?" Chad asks, sending her a smile that Shane can already tell makes Sonny weak at the knees (even though she'll deny it to Kingdom Come).

"Fine," she tells him with a slight blush and an obvious smile in disguise.

"Fine," he retorts quickly (and Shane wants to smack him for being the way he is).

"Good," Sonny snaps and Chad starts walking towards the door.

"Good," he counters.

"So are we good?" she asks (and Shane wants to scream because Sonny is paying more attention to Chad Dylan Cooper when she has known _Shane_ for so much longer).

Chad smirks as he ducks out the door. Suddenly, Sonny's phone rings. Shane can barely make out an "oh, we are so good!" as Tawni rolls her eyes, back to normal (for Tawni's standards at least). "You know, it's so weird. I've known Chad since I was six and he's never acted like that in front of anyone else before. Sonny just makes him lose his maturity. It's kind of a nice break from him being a stuck up snob all of the time. But then again, you seem to really trust her too and there were all those things circulating about a year ago with you being a jerk. Sonny just makes people . . . better people," she mentions (and Shane starts to re-think everything that he's ever heard about Tawni Hart, as she has just proved to be a very thoughtful human being and she seems pretty smart, contrary to what the tabloids say about her) and Shane thinks that she's hit the nail right on the head.

"Sorry about that there, Shane. He's . . . complicated. We're . . . complicated. It's . . . complicated," she finally manages to stutter out and Tawni rolls her eyes. "Don't look at me like that, Tawni! Hey, Shay, you want to come and see the set? Besides the Prop Room, the set is my favorite place around here. And the commissary of course. Who doesn't love food?" she asks. Tawni rolls her eyes.

"You only like the commissary so much because you see _Chad_ there, sweetie. Please, give it up. We know all about how much you _love_ Chip Drama Pants over there," Tawni whispers to Sonny. Sonny's face turns scarlet as she tries to come up with denial.

"That's ridiculous, Tawni! Stop making such weird accusations! I mean, yesterday you accused Zora of being a member of the C. I. A., didn't you?" Sonny back tracts, drawing Tawni away from the subject at hand. Tawni blinks, swallows the bait, and goes into her own little world. "Coming, Shane?"

Shane walks beside her, his arm casually slung around her waist. It's an easy position for them and neither thinks about it very much. "So, you want to tell me why you're friendly with Cooper back there? From what I've heard it doesn't seem like your two casts are exactly buddy-buddy with one another," he comments, waiting for Sonny's reaction.

"Chad isn't a bad person, Shay. Sure, he thinks about himself a lot, but everyone says that for the past couple of months he hasn't been doing it as much as he normally does. Like the set? We still have a _Check It Out Girls_ sketch set up right now, but we'll have plenty more the day of the show. You should come! You, Nate, and Jason should come to the show! Come on, Shay, what do you say?" Sonny asks him, bouncing up and down on her heals, waiting for Shane's answer (like he could say no to that face).

"We'll be here, Alice. They don't even know I'm here though. I thought that if we got into another fight and I ended up going back mad at you again they'd never let me live it down. What was that fight about anyways?" he asks in a fake voice (not that Sonny can tell – she's caught up in her own world). She smiles sweetly (she wants to know how he forgot (he didn't forget, he just wants to see if she remembers it at all) but she doesn't want to break down into tears right there) and answers a quick text from her cow phone that still moos (even after a year she hasn't changed that ring tone).

"I thought that being a celebrity had changed you. Sorry," she mutters and he hugs her.

"See you for the show, Alice? Text me the date and time. I'll be here for sure I'll bring Nate and Jason even if I have to drag them," Shane tells her, going out the back lot and hopping in his car.

"Bye, Shay," Sonny whispers long after he is gone from the studio. (He left because he can't stand to be in the building that Sonny defended the jerk throb who can't act any longer.)

Shane Gray twenty one when he really meets Chad Dylan Cooper (and realizes he's right about him).

Shane walks out the front door when he hears his phone ringing (it's that phone British tone with the phone in your pocket thing – it's annoying but it reminds him to check his phone). It's Sonny and she's in shock so Tawni (who has long since gotten over celebrity star struck-dom) takes the phone from her hand (he guesses, he can't see it actually happen) and begins to talk into it. "Shane, you need to get down here. It isn't bad . . . that I know of, but Sonny can't talk and she's just been rocking back and forth on her heals for the past thirty minutes with this weird smile on her face. Come find out what happened! Lord knows that you and Chad are the only people who can get anything of her – and Chad just left the studio. So get down here, Gray!" she demands and Shane gets in his car and goes (because it's faster this way than actually _denying_ the queen of Tawni Town of anything that she wants).

"Sonny? Tawni? I'm here," Shane calls as he pulls up into the studio's parking lot (he doesn't even need to use his G. P. S. to get there now – that's how much he's been there and back from basically everywhere and anywhere). "Tawni? Sonny? Where are you guys?" With another turn he somehow winded up on the set of_ Mackenzie Falls_. He pulls out his phone to call Tawni and ask her how to get out, but when he hears footsteps at the end of the hallways he decides against it. He could just ask this person instead of bothering Tawni. Though she said Sonny was acting really weird . . . Sonny would still be there within the two minutes it took to ask for directions and follow them. "Hey, you! Guy at the end of the hall! Yeah, you!" The person turns around and Shane could see it was one person he really didn't want to talk to, but he would do it if it was for Sonny.

"Shane Gray? What are you doing on _Mackenzie Falls_?" Chad Dylan Cooper asks him. He remembers the last time that Shane Gray was here. He was a friend of Sonny's or something wasn't that it? Eh, it was probably it. Sonny has a lot of quirks, and being friends with Shane Gray just might be one of them. "You looking for the _So Random!_ set? I'll walk you to it; I was just going over there myself."

Shane raises his eyebrows but doesn't say anything. "OK, then. What are you still doing here? Tawni said that you had just pulled out when she called me for Alice – I mean, Alison – I mean, Sonny. You probably call her Sonny, anyways." Chad looks intrigued but he doesn't say much besides the reasoning behind his being at the _Mackenzie Falls _set (except a monologue).

"Eh. I forgot the script; had to turn around and get it. Can't exactly film a show without the great Chad Dylan Cooper knowing his lines, now can you? That'd just be bad press. Almost as bad as the press Sonny got a while back when she had that huge 'diva fit' in front of the camera. I mean, she calls me a jerk, but hello? Diva, anyone?" Chad rambles as he takes a turn down another hallway.

"I thought _you_ were the one who made her mad in the first place. She told me you rented a puppy. Who in their right mind rents a puppy? No one," Shane answered himself. "Besides, I've heard the notorious 'Puppy Shoving' rumors about you and your mother's best friend's Labrador. Anger management much, anyone? I think so. This isn't the way Tawni told me to get to the set if I ever get lost on the _Mackenzie Falls_ set, by the way," Shane notes as he looks around at the walls painted a pale yellow around him.

"I know a faster way than the one Tawni gave you. Let me guess, turn right at the commissary? Tawni doesn't exactly have the best directions in case you never knew. Besides, I know a short cut to their set. What? I don't go over there all of the time. Seriously, dude, I hardly go over there. Are you thinking of the last time you were here and I was asleep on their couch? Let me tell you, they somehow ended up with better couches than my set did! I was tired and needed a nap and I as know I have said before, they have soft couches. So soft that I fell asleep instantaneously!" Chad cried, spreading his arms wide.

Shane doesn't like this attitude of Chad Dylan Cooper's. He seems too dramatic and much too full of himself for Shane's taste. He also doesn't like the fact that Chad Dylan Cooper gets to see Sonny every day for eight hours if he feels like it while he, Shane Gray, he best friend, only sees her for four hours a day (and even then that's pushing it by quite a lot) and that's including the time they get into stupid fights and don't talk to one another in the car. "I believe you, man. But if you think that their couch is soft . . . Man, the Munroe's couch is the best thing on the planet. I sit on it to wait for Alice – I mean, Sonny, for you – and she's found my asleep more than ten times at least," Shane says. He's only telling Chad this because he wants Chad to know that he, Shane Gray, has known the Munroe's (mainly Sonny) for much longer than Chad and he, Shane Gray, is basically part of the family. So Shane just want Chad to know that he can stick that in his juice box and suck it (though not quite in as polite terms as that).

"Oh man, I know." He does? This drives Shane over the edge and he is thinking about hurting Cooper where the sun don't shine and he probably would have if Tawni hadn't come up upon them at that exact moment.

"Shane! There you are . . . with Chad? Whatever, Sonny's been standing there, not saying anything, rocking herself back and forth with this weird and extremely goofy smile plastered on her face. Shane, move it! Umm . . . You too, Cooper! Prop room," Tawni calls, waving them down the hall. Shane starts to jog down the hall and Chad follows. When they get to the prop room, Sonny is doing exactly what Tawni said that she would be doing (see above for details) and Tawni was indeed right – that smile was extremely goofy and weird, even for one of Sonny's smiles.

"Tawni, get me a little bit of water; we'll spray her with it to wake her up," Shane tells Tawni and she goes towards the kitchen. Chad doesn't even bother talking to Tawni or Shane, as he just walks over to Sonny, dips her and pulls her in for a kiss. After their lips touch for only a few moments of time, Sonny is back to talking and moving and that goofy smile isn't exactly all of the way there anymore.

"Chad? Why did you . . . ? What the . . . What was _that_ all about?" Sonny sputters out in a high pitched voice (point one for Selena – point zero for Sonny and (unless you count kissing Sonny as a point) Chad) as she stands there, obviously shocked as the kind of drama (self-proclaimed, of course) takes a step back after making sure that Sonny is back to standing upright and no longer dipped in his arms.

"Tawni said you'd basically fainted without the whole unconscious part. Why were you smiling like that anyways?" Chad asks before he continues on. Shane raises his eyebrows; he wants to hear about this part.

Sonny gives a toothy grin in Chad's direction before explaining. "I got offered a role in a movie! I can't wait to start filming and I just know –" Chad cuts her off.

"That's great, Sonny! I always knew you'd be a big movie star one day. Why do you think I got you that audition for that _Fashionista_ movie? Yeah, that's right, I so saw this coming. Portlyn owes me twenty bucks now. But congratulations, Sonny," Chad says and moves to start walking back out.

"Wait just a moment, Cooper!" Sonny cries and Chad stops in his tracks. "You could just as easily have sprayed some water on me and woke me up, you know. I want to know why you kissed me right then, Chad!" she demands with her hands on her hips looking extremely angry (or as angry as one can get while having the nickname of 'Sonny' for their bright and happy personality) at Chad, who was backtracking now.

Well, Shane and Tawni were planning on doing that but I just decided to take it into my own hands. Besides, she implied that you were a damsel in distress. We all know that damsels in distress need a Prince Charming, don't we?" he asked with one cocked eyebrow. "And in the storybooks, they always tell that true love's first kiss will wake anyone up." Sonny blushes furiously at this and Shane fumes. "Besides, I never got that kiss that when I guest starred on the show. Now, your debt is paid and I do believe that the deal was that all of my leading ladies fall in love with me. I'm just getting what is rightfully mine. I do believe I'll be going now."

"True love's first kiss? How _Enchanted_ is that? Are you telling me you think we're in love?" Sonny demands to Chad, who stops short and rolls his eyes in a horrible attempt at nonchalance. Tawni answers for him.

"Yes! Of course you two are in love! What with the 'fines' and the 'goods' and the rest of the things the two of you do that would drive other batty simply make you two shrug them off! You're in love and you need to just admit it before you drive me off of the deep end with waiting! Admit it! Now!" Tawni yells at them and Shane pales (How can they be in love? Alice isn't supposed to fall in love with the self proclaimed drama king! She was supposed to fall in love with him, the best friend, the _rock_ star, Shane freaking Gray! She _is_ supposed to fall in love with him!) considerably.

"I'll be going, Alice," Shane tells the group and Sonny gives him a hug and a peck on the cheek (Take that, Cooper!). Tawni nods in a distracted way not really concerned about Shane but instead concerned for the teen couple that she is determined to get together. Chad doesn't seem to hear him (or doesn't seem to care) and instead stares back defiantly at Tawni, who is giving him the evil eye.

Shane stays by the door just to listen to the outcome of the conversation. "Tawni, what are you talking about? Chad and I _hate_ each other." That's just the answer Sonny gives and he wants to tell Cooper that there, Sonny isn't in love with him (because he can tell that Chad has fallen for Sonny – he just hopes that it isn't the same way around too), she hates the drama star. She said it!

"That's right, Blondie! Stop looking at me like that, Tawni! Fine, then. That's right, _Tawni_! I mean after all even though . . . Sonny and I aren't in love! What makes you think that?" Shane doesn't have to be in the room to know that Tawni is pulling out some sort of evidence to prove it.

"I have a montage! Including your fake date, building dog houses, the time when Sonny dressed up as her own fan and I was about to prove it when you dressed up as him because you cared, and a bunch of other time that you two are being lovey dovey with your 'fines' and your goods' with those lovesick smiles on your faces! Chad Dylan Cooper, I have known you since I was six years old and you have never cared in your life! Neither have I for that matter, but that's beside the point. You are in love with Sonny Munroe and Sonny Munroe, you are in love with Chad Dylan Cooper! You always come back from the commissary boy sighing and humming whenever you see him!" This is where Shane leaves. He can't stand being here for the end of this conversation; he knows where it's headed. He doesn't want to hear the start of Sonny and Chad Dylan Cooper's relationship because he loves Sonny. He only realized it now because he really hates that arrogant brat that is Chad Dylan Cooper. He is in love with his best friend, the girl who threw him birthday parties on his brother's birthdays and threw his brother's birthday parties on his birthdays (therefore making everything – including every birthday – all the more special), the girl who convinced him to be a rock (anything but pop) star, the girl who wasn't afraid to tell him that he changed for the worse in Hollywood (because he really did). He's in love with Sonny Munroe, and within pretty good reason because he is, after all, the only one allowed to call her Alice (and not even stupid drama king Chad Dylan Cooper is going to change anything about that). He loves her, and he's her best friend so he has to want what's best for her. He knows that he is what's best for her (like big headed, pompous, arrogant, egotistical, narcissistic Chad Dylan Cooper is what's best for a happy go lucky ball of exploding sunshine), but he needs to let her see what isn't best for her (cough – Chad Dylan Cooper – cough) before he lets her see that he's the one.

He decides that once Sonny and Chad break up (as they undoubtedly will), he will swoop in and save Sonny from the fate of having a broken heart (as if she's be stupid enough to let the kind of drama have her heart), therefore playing the role of the supportive best friend (eventually making her fall in love with him – that's crucial).

Shane Gray is twenty four when he finally realizes that he needs to keep his mouth shut.

Sonny Munroe is twenty two when she calls him at midnight with tears evident in her voice. He thinks (no, he knows) that this is his chance. By the sound of the tears, he assumes that she and her boyfriend, Chad Dylan Cooper (curse him), had just ended things. It's only when he asks what's wrong and she answers that it's only the best thing ever and he'll be so happy her does he think that this call probably isn't about a breakup.

Chad Dylan Cooper just popped the question to Sonny Munroe and she said yes only thirty mere minutes ago. As Sonny reveals, she's crying because she's just so happy because it's absolutely everything she ever wanted (to his dismay, he knows that she's right) and she has to go because Tawni needs to know and Tawni will berate her for at least ten minutes for not calling her right away (again, he knows that she's right about that one too).

"I just had to tell you Shane because you're my best friend but I have to go and – Chad, stop it!" She giggles into the phone receiver. "Sorry about that, Shay. I've got to go, but I just had to tell you! Meet you on Sunday for lunch at _Cappella's_?" she asks, naming the restaurant the eat lunch at once a month at least. "See you," she chirps without waiting for his response. He hangs up the phone and waits for it to sink in.

It doesn't sink in all of the way, but he understands the gist of it. Sonny doesn't love him; she loves the drama star that she knows he hates (he was fourteen when he told her so it's been a decade since his proclamation at least). She is actually _marrying_ the three named jerkthrob (and apparently, heartthrob as well) that will never grow up from being the boy on the overdramatic drama show (but has – Shane witnessed it, much to his displeasure), the boy who would never fall in love (but did – again, Shane witnessed it with much displeasure). It doesn't fully sink in, the whole Sonny getting married deal, but he gets the gist of it.

It's only a week later when he's sitting in _Cappella's_ with Sonny and Tawni (Sonny invited her along for the day – they're browsing for wedding and maid of honor dresses) that he fully realizes what Sonny getting married means. Sonny and Tawni are giggling over something, completely unaware of his sudden epiphany. "You're getting married, Alice," he says suddenly, causing Sonny to smile widely and nod, seemingly in a daze. Tawni only looks unimpressed at his statement.

"No duh, Shane. That's usually what being engaged means," Tawni points out, going back to filing her nails. "Sonny, what store should we hit after finish eating?" she asks to Sonny, who is still smiling dreamily. "Earth to Sonny," Tawni calls, waving a hand in front of Sonny, who jerks up quickly.

"Sorry, Tawni, Shay. It's just . . . I'm getting married. Can you believe it?" Sonny giggles. No, Shane cannot believe it. Her getting married means that she isn't Sonny anymore. She won't even be Alice any longer after she's said 'I do.' He's lost to the three named drama star again, just like in eighth grade. Suddenly he's fourteen again and just lost the girl of his dreams to the king of overacting. It's been a decade and he still has this feeling of betrayal that he got when Sonny said that Chad Dylan Cooper was hot, only now she's marrying him when he, Shane Gray, is in love with her and it's like she doesn't even know it!

"You're not going to be Alice anymore after this, Alice," he tells her and the words come out more harshly than he meant for them to. She pales considerably (which is amazing since she's not exactly the tannest person in Los Angeles) and shakes her head slowly at him, wondering how he could say that to her.

"I'll still be Alice, Shay. I'll just be . . . Alice Cooper," Sonny says with an overly large grin that Shane wants to smack off of her face. Tawni smiles at her best friend (who is no longer Tawni) and laughs appreciatively.

"She's been doing this all day, Shane. She'll just blank off and say her future name. Ms. Sonny Cooper," Tawni prompts Sonny, who blushes considerably darker than she already was. It makes quite a contrast, her fantastic blush and her paling skin. "We all know you're head over heels for Chad, Sonny. But I don't need to be aware of my singleness at every waking moment, thank you very much, Ms. Soon-To-Be-Cooper," Tawni states, causing Sonny to blush even redder (is there even a limit to how many shades of red she can blush? – she's up to thirty right now).

"Oh, eat your salad, Tawni," Sonny sputters out finally once she recovers from the blood rushing to her face. Tawni raises an eyebrow and complies. "Shane, I'll still be Alice no matter what; I promise," she tells him (and in his foolishness, he believes her). Her phone rings suddenly and she is no longer his Alice (the girl who knows how to play a rock song on the piano, and the girl who can make an exploding pen with only ink and Jell-o, the girl who flips him over the back of the couch whenever he's annoying, and the girl who isn't afraid of anything – especially of disapproval). Instead, she is back to Sonny (the girl who blushes when she talks about getting married, the girl that knows all the lyrics to the pop songs on the radio, the girl who is considerate of everyone and anyone, and the girl who everyone loves – especially Chad Dylan Cooper).

As Sonny and Tawni are getting ready to leave and Tawni in the restroom, Shane decides to tell Sonny what he's been thinking throughout the entire meal. "Don't marry him, Alice," he blurts out as she is finishing her dessert (which she has now spit into his face in surprise).

She blinks a few times, trying to decide whether to address his objection to her soon to be marriage or the fact that she has spit her chocolate mousse into his face. Hesitantly, she decides to try on the first one. "Excuse me, Shay?" she asks as he begins to wipe off the aforementioned dessert.

He frowns into the napkin. "I said that you shouldn't marry Cooper, Alice." She pales.

"Shay, what are you saying? Shane . . . Of course I'm going to marry him. I love him," she pleads with him desperately. She needs her best friend to approve of her soon to be marriage. She needs to know that everyone approves because it isn't like Sonny to go against anyone's opinion (no, that's Alice's job). "Shane, what are you trying to tell me?" she asks with tears in her eyes.

"God, Alice, do I have to spell it out for you?" Shane asked, clearly exasperated. By the look on her face he decides that yes, he does have to spell it all out for her. "I'm in _love_ with you, Alice." She is shocked as she stands up quickly, trying to compose herself before she speaks. He can hear Tawni's high heels making their way back to them, and he knows that they'll have to make this quick.

"I . . . I have to . . . God, Shane, way to drop a bomb!" she screams finally, snatching up her purse, cell phone, palm pilot, net book, personal organizer, and a few business cards that slipped out of the purse before she stares at him with a slight sense of trepidation. "See you around, Shay." At least she's used his nickname before she grabs Tawni's hand and whisks them out of the restaurant.

Shane Gray is twenty four when he seemingly disappears off of the face of the earth.

_Thank you for using Verizon Wireless. You have seven new voicemails._

"Shane, look, I just wasn't expecting that – who would be? Just come back from wherever who are, ok? I feel like it's my entire fault because . . . You know why! Don't drop a bomb on me like that, Shane. I – just come back. We're all worried about you, Shay. Me, Nate, Jason – "

_Message deleted. Next message._

"Why did you not show up to the concert? Look, Shane, we get that you're all depressed because of Sonny and we weren't going to interfere because it wasn't interfering with the band but now it is! Get your act together, Shane, before we have to come down there and get it together for you . . . Man, Sonny's been calling here twenty four seven in tears, just saying that she wants to talk to you because you aren't answering her calls – ours either, by the way. I don't know what you said to her, Shane, but Sonny is like my little sister, or same age sister, I guess. What I mean is that, Shane, if you told her you loved her – man, that's messed up. She's getting married to – "

_Message deleted. Next message._

"Shane, it's Jason. We need you back in the band. It's been a week! I don't know what happened, Shane, but it can't be that – "

_Message deleted. Next message._

"I got your voicemail. Again. Look, just please come back, damn it, Shane! I don't even know what you did, but I just saw Sonny and she's a wreck. She freaks out whenever someone says the word 'Shane,' she just freezes in her tracks like a deer caught in the headlights. Do you remember the deer I ran over in my sophomore year when I first got my driver's license? She looks like that, Shane! God, you did tell her that you loved her, didn't you? Shane, you know that she's getting married to Cooper! Look, I met him before you did – I had to guest star on _Mackenzie Falls_, remember? – and he's nothing like he was then. If this is what you think is love, Shane, than I don't know what you would call whatever Chad Dylan Cooper is in. Shane . . . I know this might be a shocker because you were expecting Sonny to break up with Chad whenever you told her, but . . . she loves him, Shane. She really does and if you mess this up for Sonny – who has been looking for love since she was twelve – if you mess this up for her, Shane, I promise that I will personally pummel you into a fine powder. Get it – "

_Message deleted. Next message._

"I'm going to skip the introductions here, Shane. I know we aren't exactly the best of friends, but you and Sonny always were best friends. Just tell me, Gray . . . What the hell did you do to my fiancé? Yes, I know that it was you because the clues are all there, believe me. She's started to flip out every time someone says your name and she's been complaining about constant headaches. Plus, you've disappeared off of the face of the earth and everyone, including Sonny of course, is worried about you. They want you to come back. I'm not going to include myself really in that category, but I guess I do kind of need you to come back to planet earth to fix whatever the hell you did to my fiancé – "

_Message Deleted. Next message._

"I can't believe you. Seriously. Who talks to their best friend – who is engaged, might I add – and tells them that they're in love with them and that they should cancel their wedding? That's just sick, Shane. By the way, yes, I know that's what happened because the minute I asked her if you had told her you were in love with her, she just started sobbing and crying and wailing tears like Niagara Falls. She spilled the whole thing, Shane. If I will, which I will, than I think you need help if you honestly thought that it was good idea at the time. God, Shane . . . You're seriously messed up. Don't even bother getting your act together. You've done way too much damage to even think about trying to make it right. Did you expect her to just break it off with Cooper the second you told her? If you did, Shane . . . Again, that's just really, really messed up. I don't even want to know what goes on in that mind of yours because – "

_Message deleted. Final message._

"Shay . . . Come back, please. I don't know what to say here, obviously, because this isn't your everyday voicemail, I guess. Nate's guessed what happened and that just . . . Never mind. I don't even know what I called. I knew that you weren't going to pick up and answer but I can't understand why . . . Again, never mind that last sentence. Scratch that. I'm an idiot for calling. I can't believe I was stupid enough to call and talk to this stupid voicemail which you really need to change, by the way. I don't even . . . For the third time in under a minute, never mind. Call me back, alright, Shane? I don't even know what . . . On second thought, don't call me back. I'm stupid for calling you in the first place. I'm a stupid girl, Shane. Don't call me back. Don't even think about calling me back. I just . . . See you. Or maybe not, I guess. Guess not then."

_Message deleted. No new messages._

Sonny Munroe is twenty three when she becomes Sonny Cooper.

Her wedding is perfect. She and Tawni found the most gorgeous wedding dress that anyone had ever seen before with a beautiful cathedral veil holding back her hair. It's an outdoor wedding and everything flows together perfectly from start to finish. The seating arrangements look a little weird, but they're the way she wanted them all the same. In the first row are Nico, Grady (Zora is a bridesmaid), Marshall, her mom, her father, Mrs. Gray, Mr. Gray, Nate, Jason, and an empty seat reserved for someone who hasn't bothered to show up (even though she sent him five invitations and left eighteen voicemails, second only to his brother Nate leaving him twenty six), Chad's parents, and a few other people from _Mackenzie Falls_. She hates the books _Twilight_, but she can't help but compare her wedding scene to Bella's. At least Jacob showed up by the end. Shane doesn't even bother calling her back, much less come to her wedding.

She smiles widely and tries not to concentrate on the empty chair in the first row, the empty seat at the table for the reception, the place where he would have made a speech in honor of the bride and groom. She (somehow) manages not to and has a wonderful time at her wedding. Nate is probably the only one who knows how hard it is for her (as he was the one who guessed it), and he tells her that it'll all turn out right. She nods because it has to turn out alright because Shane _said_ that he would come to her wedding and give a speech about how happy he was that she had found the one (So what if he said it at nine years old? It still counts in her book.).

She's happy that she's getting married, and she loves Chad with all her heart, but she just wants Shane to be there for her. Sure, she sounds like a spoiled brat who isn't getting her way if you think about it, but she just wants to have her best friend (the one who isn't Tawni) there to see it, to see her in her wedding dress, to tell her that she looks beautiful (even though everyone else is telling her as soon as she sees him). She just wants her best friend who she's had since she was nine years old.

Shane Gray is twenty five when he resurfaces to all of Hollywood (and Sonny, but he tries not to notice).

"Hey, Sonny," he waves to her as he passes her on the street. She nods and keeps walking, not looking up from the email she's sending someone. After a moment she stops and looks up, seeing the back of him, drops her phone from the all-important salary negotiation deal, and gasps.

"Shane? Shane Gray? Is that . . . God, I'm going crazy! Walk home, don't tell anyone about it, shrug it off, go for a walk," she mutters to herself as she picks up her phone from the sidewalk and keeps walking along her way, wiping a few unshed tears from her eyes as she goes. "Walk it off, Cooper," she whispers into the air.

Shane raises an eyebrow as he jogs over to her. "Think you're crazy for seeing me? Yeah, I actually got that a lot today. How've you been, Alice?" He falls into step with her as she looks up at him with a shocked expression registering on her face. As they turn the corner, he can see the other Cooper ending a call on his cell phone before looking over at Sonny and waving, jogging over.

"You're not Shane. You're something that I'm imagining; you're a hallucination and I don't want to dwell on that any longer. Walk away, Sonny; walk away," she whispers and heads over to Chad, who is heading over to her. Shane sighs, almost getting ready to walk away when Chad notices him.

"Shane? Shane Gray?" he asks in disbelief. Sonny looks up, amazed that someone else sees what she thought was a hallucination. Shane nods, kind of annoyed that of all people, Chad Dylan Cooper would be the first one to truly recognize him for something other than a hallucination (he's been getting looks all day).

"Yeah. What's up, Chad?" he asks in a condescending tone. Out of nowhere, a fist comes and punches him in the face. When he opens his eyes, Sonny is standing over him, shaking out her hand and glaring at him. "Wait a second . . . Sonny, you punched me?" He only hears objective screaming as his answer.

"Of course I punched you, you inconsiderate jerk-face! I just cannot believe that you would stoop that incredibly low when I . . . I just cannot believe you! Oh, you just wait until I call Nate and tell him that I've just seen you right here and you don't even have the gall – Chad, why are you dragging me away? Let me march over there and give him a piece of my mind! You awful, stupid, evil, almost wedding ruining – " Chad raises an eyebrow and Sonny stops short. "Awful, stupid, evil, horrible, mean, backstabbing me in the face boy!"

"Sonny, you said 'almost wedding ruining.' You want to explain something to me right now? Maybe later?" Chad asks as Shane decides to explain, therefore saving Sonny from digging her own grave.

"Yeah, about that, Cooper. Now stop trying to interrupt me in the middle of my sentences. See, that technically isn't completely true. It also isn't Sonny's fault now that I think about that. Ok, so Sonny and I met at _Cappella's _with Tawni about a week after you two got engaged. I kind of, sort of, maybe told her that – "

"Kind of? Sort of? Maybe? There was no maybe about it, Shane! You evil, inconsiderate, jealous, backstabbing, deserving of being punched in the face again – "

"Sonny, I get it. So there wasn't much of a maybe about it. I told her she shouldn't marry you. Which obviously didn't make her not marry you, because you two are married right now, so I didn't do anything too damaging, now did I?"

"Too damaging? You didn't do anything too freaking damaging? Is that what you think? I went through hell in my mind for that! You absolute tosser, I just cannot believe that you were my very best friend or that you would stoop that incredibly low just to tell me, after I was engaged and you knew that, how – "

"Sonny, if you haven't told him than at least I'm doing a better version of it than you have!" Shane yells. This shuts Sonny up, or she at least starts saying her insults at a lower tone of volume. "I told her I was in love with her and that she shouldn't be marrying you, ok? She just told me that she loved you and then screamed at me for a moment before grabbing Tawni and leaving. You've got a good girl there, Cooper. Don't let her go, no matter how much people might tell you. Meanwhile, I took some time to clear my head. I actually went back to Camp Rock for a little while." This is where Chad decides to interrupt.

"Wait a second, you told my fiancé that you were in love with her and that she needed to break off her engagement with me? If you were her best friend . . . how could you even do that to her? What is her life to you, some kind of joke? No? A game then? If he competition is about who can screw up her life the most – I'll bet that you're winning by a long shot here," Chad yells at Shane, who frowns and shakes his head.

"Look, I was being stupid and I didn't know anything! So she went and left the restaurant, and I realized how messed up I was in the first place. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Sonny, stop trying to punch me!" he cries, clearly alarmed as Sonny tries to break away from Chad's grasp.

"Sonny, I want to punch him too but I'm not punching him, am I?! So _stop_ it, please. Sonny, that does not mean that I'm going to just go and – Sonny, please, just stop it already! Stop it, no, no, no, no – Not the hair!" Chad cries, reaching up to protect his precious blond locks (which Sonny had just pulled), therefore freeing Sonny from his grasp. She pulls free and marchs over to Shane with tears streaming down her face.

"You almost ruined my life, you complete ass! Fuck you, Shane Gray! Just . . . Fuck you!" (Shane is shocked because he's never even heard Sonny utter a single curse word before – let alone three of them, believe it or not) Sonny screams as she slaps him across the face hard and whips her back around to him, walking back along the street, her super high heels that Tawni obviously bought for her sounding against the pavement. Chad takes one disgusted look for a single moment at Shane and chases after his wife.

Shane Gray is twenty five when he realizes that he's an idiot.

He had no right to tell Sonny when she was engaged (or dating someone else, or married).

He never should have tried to find Sonny when she didn't expect it (he has the bruise to prove it).

But most of all, he never should have fallen in love in the first place.

(Happily ever afters are for those who deserve them, after all.)

(Maybe Shane Gray doesn't deserve a happily ever after – of course he doesn't.)


End file.
